Caeleb Dressel wants to bid for a fourth and possible final Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 — and might trim his swimming schedule.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a full event lineup (in 2028),” Dressel said Saturday in a press conference at his first visit to Daytona International Speedway for a NASCAR Cup race. “I think maybe just the 50m free. Put a little bit more muscle on. Don’t have to be in as good a shape. So maybe look forward to just doing the splash and dash. That might be a good time for me.”
Dressel, 28, is tied for second in Olympic history across all sports with nine gold medals.
Including relays, he swam three events at the Rio Games, six events in Tokyo and five events in Paris.
He is motivated by the opportunity to compete at a global championship in an American pool for the first time. The U.S. has never hosted a world championships (long course) and last hosted the Olympics in 1996, the year he was born.
“I think that would be the coolest thing ever, competing on American soil and seeing only American flags in the stands,” Dressel said. “I mean, Paris was really special. I don’t know if you all could see this from the stands, but it literally felt like a home crowd meet. The amount of American flags and support we got in Paris was unbelievable. So yeah, I can’t imagine actually having that same thing, but in the U.S. I think that would just be such a sweet way to end my career.”
Through an email from his agent, Dressel later said that it is difficult to know what event(s) he will swim in four years.
“But I plan to be there swimming the events that my coach and I feel are best for me and for the team,” he said. “I am going (to) keep my options open, but the 50m free is a top priority!”
In Paris, Dressel won two gold medals and one silver on relays, plus finished sixth in the 50m free and 13th in the 100m butterfly.
He made the team after taking an eight-month break from swimming training in late 2022 and early 2023, citing mental health, and rediscovering his love of the sport.
“Not the exact results I wanted from the Games this year individually, but that’s how the sport goes sometimes,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not your week, but I’m holding my head high. I hope I made my country proud, and hope I did my job on relays. That’s really what it comes down to.
“I’m at a spot in the sport that I never thought I would be when I was a kid, one making the Olympics, but making three Games. So I really feel like everything I’ve done in the sport, I’ve made my 10-year-old self proud, and there’s not much more I can ask for than that.”